字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

three

On’yomi サン、ゾウ
Kun’yomi み、み.つ、みっ.つ
Nanori か、さ、さい、さえ、さぶ、ざ、ざえ、ざぶ、そう、ぞ、ただ、みつ、みん、も、や

Origin

This character is simply a picture of three horizontal lines stacked on top of each other. Just as one line represents "one" and two lines represent "two" in early writing systems, three lines naturally came to represent "three." The character is so straightforward that it has remained virtually unchanged from ancient times to today, making it one of the simplest and oldest number symbols in written Japanese and Chinese.

三 3 strokes

Components

This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (三).

  • 三 meaning part

Common words

  • 再三 さいさん again and again; repeatedly
  • 三つ みっつ three
  • 三回 さんかい three times
  • 三角 さんかく triangle; triangular shape
  • 三権 さんけん the three powers of government (legislative, executive and judicial)
  • 三時 さんじ 3 o'clock
  • 三女 さんじょ third daughter
  • 三省 さんせい frequent reflection; frequent meditation

Related kanji

Same radical

Easily confused with

These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.

Reference

Strokes
3
Kangxi radical
1
Formation type
Pictographic or simple
Grade
Grade 1 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#14 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 4
Unicode
U+04E09